HENRY JOHNSON

A play by

David Mamet

copyright © 2021 by D. Mamet

R. Feb 20, 2021
 ii.

No man, it is true, can calculate accurately what may be the

upshot of a single venture; but a sharp fellow may calculate with
a fair average of exactness what will be the aggregate upshot of
many ventures.
If a man speculates but once and again, now and then, as it
were, he must of course be a loser. He will be playing a game
which he does not understand, and playing it against men who do
understand it.
-Anthony Trollope: THE THREE CLERKS, 1858
 iii.

Characters:

Several middle-aged men

HENRY
MR. BARNES
GENE, a prisoner
JERRY, a guard

Setting:

Act One:

1) AN OFFICE
2) A PRISON CELL
3) THE PRISON LIBRARY

Act Two:

THE PRISON LIBRARY

 ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

INT. AN OFFICE

Two men, HENRY and MR. BARNES.

MR. BARNES
(hanging up a telephone)
I’m sorry.

HENRY
No.

MR. BARNES
Now, what did he do?

HENRY
The Judge, he...

MR. BARNES
No, the man.

HENRY
They alleged...

MR. BARNES
But he plead guilty...?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Then, how did they “allege”...?

HENRY
His choice, was to plead guilty
to...

MR. BARNES
The Court gave him that choice.

HENRY
That’s right.

MR. BARNES
To mans...

HENRY
To manslaughter, ye, or, they’d,
they wanted to try him for first...

MR. BARNES
For first degree murder.
 2.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
So he pled to manslaughter.

HENRY
Yes. They retained the right. To
prosecute him for murder. If he
pled to manslaughter.

MR. BARNES
But if he plead to it, how can you
call it alleged?

HENRY
He...

MR. BARNES
He took an oath. He “took an oath”
that he did it.

HENRY
How did he “take an oath?”

MR. BARNES
They swore him in, didn’t they? In
court?

HENRY
I don’t know if they do that if you
plead guilty.

MR. BARNES
How...

HENRY
I’m not saying they do or if they
don’t. Yes, it seems “logical,” I’m
just...

MR. BARNES
In any case...

HENRY
...saying I don’t know.

MR. BARNES
In any case he signed some legal
statement.
(pause)
Didn’t he? A confession?
 3.

HENRY
If that’s what you do when you
plead guilty.

MR. BARNES
Well, there would have to be some
legal, eh? Or...

HENRY
Alright, but I’m saying that...

MR. BARNES
“He did it under duress.”

HENRY
Well, what would you call it, the
alternative is to stand trial for
murder?

MR. BARNES
He did it “under duress” or not,
nobody but he “alleged,” he, and he
didn’t “allege” it, which would
admit of a contrary view, he said
he did it, we must take his word.

HENRY
What benefit?

MR. BARNES
To plead?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
So he didn’t have to stand trial
for murder. He could have. He was
offered the choice.

HENRY
What choice is there, finally,
between the two things?

MR. BARNES
“Better, and worse.” What choice
did he give the girl?

HENRY
He reasoned with her.
 4.

MR. BARNES
Yes, he reasoned with her, and when
she said “no”...she had the right
to say “no.” Didn’t she?
(pause)

HENRY
He said it was the first trimester.

MR. BARNES
What difference does that make, on
her right to say “no”?

HENRY
I’m saying that that worsened.
Their animosity.

MR. BARNES
That he said it was the first
trimester?

HENRY
No, that it wasn’t.

MR. BARNES
It wasn’t.

HENRY
No. It was the second trimester.
According to the two physicians.
Two physicians. It seemed.

MR. BARNES
So, it was “right over the line.”
Is that the thing?

HENRY
There, yes.

MR. BARNES
But, but, what difference, Judge’s
point-of-view, could the trimester
make?

HENRY
As he could rule that it was not a
human being.

MR. BARNES
One hand, ruling “it was not a
human being, doesn’t make it so.
More...
 5.

HENRY
It’s generally accepted...

MR. BARNES
More importantly, the distinction
exists to allow...

HENRY
You’ll note that it’s a universally-
accepted...

MR. BARNES
Hardly.

HENRY
It’s not?

MR. BARNES
No.

HENRY
Well, does it make you happier to
say it’s “widely.” “Widely
accepted?”

MR. BARNES
It doesn’t make me happy at all. At
all. You want to say that, as some,
yes, or many accept the right to
term...

HENRY
I...

MR. BARNES
That it’s a woman’s right. During,
yes, or no, some specified time...

HENRY
...the woman’s right.

MR. BARNES
But it isn’t the, yes, the right of
anyone to terminate some woman’s
pregnancy, just because it’s in the
first tri...

HENRY
It wasn’t some woman, it...
 6.

MR. BARNES
How would you like it if: alright,
then some fellow with a baseball
bat, walked down the street, any
pregnant girl he saw, if they were
“in the first trimester,” he
battered her to abort the child.
(pause)
Is that, you tell me, better or
worse than doing it to a woman who
he knew? Better or worse. Your
sister, your wife. What’s his
excuse? He asked her to abort the
child, and she refused.

HENRY
The child. His child.

MR. BARNES
He asked her to kill his child. She
said “no.”
(pause)
Or are you saying that she has no
right to bear a child, if some man
finds it inconvenient? As that’s
his excuse, isn’t it? That it was
So Important To Him, and what did
it cost her, to accommodate him? Is
that it, because, I’ll tell you
what: that’s it. As far as I can
see it.
(pause)

HENRY
What about rehabilitation?

MR. BARNES
And, they, wait wait, they reserved
the right. To try him for murder.
That’s what they did, which is how
they felt about it.

HENRY
But how could it be murder? If that
has a meaning.

MR. BARNES
Well, it has a meaning.

HENRY
Which is?
 7.

MR. BARNES
The unlawful taking of life with
premeditation.
(pause)

HENRY
They did that to hold the big stick
over him.

MR. BARNES
Well, I would think so.

HENRY
In considering his parole.

MR. BARNES
Alright.

HENRY
Was that fair? That they could, at
any time...

MR. BARNES
I don’t know what’s fair.

HENRY
And what about rehabilitation?

MR. BARNES
I’m all for it.

HENRY
Specifically.

MR. BARNES
Specifically?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
I’m all for it.

HENRY
Then...

MR. BARNES
But has anybody ever seen it? And
why would they expect it of him?

HENRY
Why not of him?
 8.

MR. BARNES
Look here: He’s “seeing” this, what
was she, a shopgirl, a...

HENRY
I don’t know.

MR. BARNES
Now, now? He “falls in love” with
the Heiress? Shopgirl? Washes up
pregnant. It’s inconvenient.

HENRY
He offered her a generous...

MR. BARNES
Exactly. Which, for her to refuse
was, unreasonable?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
It was unreasonable?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
To him. You understand? So this
entitled monster, he, what?

HENRY
He induced, he introduced the...

MR. BARNES
He, are you kidding? Goes away, One
Last Weekend, to, what, make it up,
say Goodbye, “find closure” with
the shopgirl. Having sex, he
introduces this...where did he get
it?

HENRY
I...

MR. BARNES
Yes, fine, so you know that, too.
An illegal drug, an
“abortifacent”...?

HENRY
I don’t know...
 9.

MR. BARNES
Puts it in her drink. Supposed to
miscarry. It doesn’t work. This and
that, introduces it INTO HER BODY
during sex. So, he is using her
consent for sex to...isn’t that
rape? By the way? Did they ch...

HENRY
No.

MR. BARNES
But I’ll bet that was on the
docket. If he didn’t plead? Wasn’t
it?

HENRY
I’m not sure.

MR. BARNES
You’re not?

HENRY
No.

MR. BARNES
If they charged him with rape.

HENRY
No.
(pause)

MR. BARNES
Why are you defending him?

HENRY
He’s my friend.

MR. BARNES
He’s your friend or he was your
friend?

HENRY
Is he entitled to friendship?

MR. BARNES
I don’t know if he’s entitled to it
or not. I...

HENRY
I knew him in college, he...
 10.

MR. BARNES
It seems he feels entitled to knock
this girl up, go off to his new
fiancee, kill the first girl’s
child, and induce you to beg me to
give him a job.

HENRY
How would the fact that he Made a
Mistake affect his capacity to do
the job?

MR. BARNES
He didn’t “make a mistake,” he
committed a horrible sexual
mutilation.

HENRY
Oh...

MR. BARNES
...what would you call it? He
committed rape, and he committed
murder.

HENRY
That’s not what he was conv...

MR. BARNES
Well, we can call it that. I can.
And they’re holding the charge over
him, aren’t they?

HENRY
I don’t think that’s fair.

MR. BARNES
Why not?

HENRY
As he’s paid his debt to society.

MR. BARNES
No, you can stop that right now,
because, one, I have no idea what
that means. Neither do you. He
served, what, five...?

HENRY
Four and a half.
 11.

MR. BARNES
Years in prison. That was not
“paying a debt,” that was
undergoing punishment. Two, I have
no idea who “society” is; but I
know that whoever it is, it isn’t
the shopgirl, who received nothing
from his going to jail.

HENRY
Except perhaps satisfaction.

MR. BARNES
I hope to god she did.

HENRY
I’ll ask you one.

MR. BARNES
Alright.

HENRY
What is to become of him?

MR. BARNES
I don’t know.

HENRY
“Why should I care?”

MR. BARNES
No, I do care. I hope that he
suffers terribly. And I know he
will not.

HENRY
How do you know that?

MR. BARNES
Because, like all criminals, he
doesn’t know shame.

HENRY
Perhaps he changed in prison.

MR. BARNES
I have no doubt he did. And I know
it was not for the better.

HENRY
How can you know?
 12.

MR. BARNES
Because he had the arrogance to ask
you to ask me to give him a job.

HENRY
(pause)
What about compassion?

MR. BARNES
Are you being compassionate to me?
To ask me to take this man on?

HENRY
It’s a legitimate request.

MR. BARNES
...but you’re being compassionate
to him?

HENRY
He was my friend.

MR. BARNES
Did he have other friends?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
And have they all...

HENRY
“Deserted.”

MR. BARNES
I think we can say “shunned.”

HENRY
But I would say “deserted.”

MR. BARNES
Did he apply to them?

HENRY
How would I know.

MR. BARNES
You were that close?

HENRY
We were part of a group.

MR. BARNES
In college.
 13.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
That was some time ago.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
And have you heard from him since?

HENRY
He wrote me from prison.

MR. BARNES
Not before he went to prison?

HENRY
No.

MR. BARNES
Well, then, we must assume that he
wrote many, musn’t we?

HENRY
Why?

MR. BARNES
As you “were not that close.”

HENRY
He listed my name. As one of three
approved correspondents.

MR. BARNES
In prison.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
From the first.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
So. You’ve been writing to him from
the first?

HENRY
Yes. He’s been writing to me. And I
wrote him.
 14.

MR. BARNES
Who were the other two?

HENRY
The correspondents?

MR. BARNES
Yes.

HENRY
I don’t know.

MR. BARNES
He didn’t tell you?

HENRY
No, I, I understood, no, I don’t
know who they were.

MR. BARNES
...did you visit him?

HENRY
(pause)
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Ah huh.

HENRY
Yes, I visited him.

MR. BARNES
Why?

HENRY
He asked me to.
(pause)

MR. BARNES
You weren’t close in college.

HENRY
We knew each other.

MR. BARNES
But you weren’t close.

HENRY
I was, no, there were these...

MR. BARNES
...of course.
 15.

HENRY
“Circles.” Overlapping circles,
they...

MR. BARNES
...which was his?

HENRY
Well, I don’t know that you could
name it.

MR. BARNES
You were drawn to it.

HENRY
I think, yes, I’m sure they were
like that at your school, at any
school.

MR. BARNES
And his was?

HENRY
Party...partiers, gamblers, I don’t
know...

MR. BARNES
Wastrels?

HENRY
That’s an old term...

MR. BARNES
Does that cover it?

HENRY
No. And, of course, they...

MR. BARNES
...there were a lot of women there.

HENRY
He had, and I don’t know if you’ve
ever seen it; you see it in women,
sometimes, rarely, a sexual...it’s
beyond an allure, it’s...it’s...
it’s not “seductive,” it’s a force,
a...

MR. BARNES
You were attracted to him sexually.
 16.

HENRY
No. Or, I don’t think so, no. I
was... No.

MR. BARNES
What attracted you?

HENRY
A...
(pause)
An easy power.

MR. BARNES
He had power over women.

HENRY
I’ve never seen anything like it. I
couldn’t analyze it, what could you
say?
(pause)
On the campus. He, was living with
these two, loveliest girls. And we
were walking back from something,
one thing or another, he and I,
walking the same way. And he exuded
this, illu...I don’t know if it was
an illusion, of knowing what was on
your mind, and I was thinking of my
going home to my room, when he was
going to his, with these two lovely
young women. And he said, “Would
you like one?”
(pause)
I pretended to not know what he
meant. He didn’t shame me. He just
waited, and then I said, thank you,
but I had to study. So he said
“goodnight.” He didn’t shame me.

MR. BARNES
You did that for him.

HENRY
What?

MR. BARNES
You shamed yourself. For him.

HENRY
I did it, yes, but not for him. It
was not his intention to shame me.

MR. BARNES
He was being kind.
 17.

HENRY
Yes. Yes. He was being kind. To a,
to a lonely...

MR. BARNES
Perhaps he was seducing you.

HENRY
No, I don’t think so.

MR. BARNES
Is it impossible?

HENRY
I never considered myself that
attractive.

MR. BARNES
You were walking with him.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Why was he walking with you?

HENRY
We were going the same way. But,
you see, I have my own, as you see,
my demons.

MR. BARNES
...your own demons.

HENRY
And, I found, that he “had”
something, which...

MR. BARNES
Which you admired.

HENRY
Which I was drawn to.

MR. BARNES
When did you find that?

HENRY
When?

MR. BARNES
Yes, in college?
 18.

HENRY
Not, no, not totally, no. That I
would say that I was conscious of.
My own...my own...
(pause)

MR. BARNES
You saw him after college?

HENRY
Once. I saw him once.

MR. BARNES
Before he went to prison.

HENRY
He, yes.

MR. BARNES
You saw him.

HENRY
I was at a bar, on the East Side.
He came in, by himself, he saw me,
I invited him to have a drink. We
did. We didn’t have too much to
talk about, I asked him what he had
been doing, this or that, where was
he living, he had no fixed address,
where was he staying that night, “I
don’t know yet.” In a while, one of
a pair of young women, left her
friend, at the bar, and came to our
table, he invited her to sit. I
left.
(pause)

MR. BARNES
He had no home.

HENRY
He went home, every night, with
some new young woman.

MR. BARNES
It’s a sign, you know, of the
psychopath.

HENRY
...yes?

MR. BARNES
That they’re irresistibly charming.
 19.

HENRY
Yes, I knew that.

MR. BARNES
It’s a form of theft. Did you know
that?

HENRY
Charm.

MR. BARNES
It’s the attempt to extort
something from one who would not
give it in an uninflected
transaction.
(pause)
Does that describe him?

HENRY
You must allow that the phenomenon
was fascinating.

MR. BARNES
Must I?

HENRY
It interests you.
(pause)
Doesn’t it?

MR. BARNES
Oh, yes.

HENRY
Why?

MR. BARNES
Yes, alright, but, but, then you
visited him in prison.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
And you were surprised, what?
Flattered? That he put you on the
list?

HENRY
I was.

MR. BARNES
Because he “had such power over
women?”
 20.

HENRY
...I...

MR. BARNES
Why did he put you on the list?
(pause)

HENRY
You’re saying to “get” something
from me.

MR. BARNES
What did you talk about, when you
went to see him?

HENRY
No. ...what could he “get from me?”
What did I have to give him?

MR. BARNES
Really.

HENRY
Yes. How could I...

MR. BARNES
Well, look here, adducing from the
Facts in Evidence, you’ve told me,
that he performed “the most lovely,
intuitive, kind, and graceful act.”
A stunning act, so long ago, he
offered you a “girl.” An act so
intuitive and kind, that you
remember it, for twenty years.

HENRY
He was being kind, to an inept,
awkward, yes, a lonely...

MR. BARNES
He was grooming you.

HENRY
For what?

MR. BARNES
For the day he might need you.

HENRY
What day was that? He never asked
me for one single...
 21.

MR. BARNES
For the day he went to prison.
(pause)
What about the two young women?

HENRY
What young women?

MR. BARNES
Exactly.

HENRY
What young women?

MR. BARNES
That he “offered” you. You...

HENRY
I don’t underst...

MR. BARNES
You understand your reluctance as
shameful. Don’t you? To accept his
offer. Don’t you? I’d say it was
moral. You refused, to collaborate
while he pimped these young women
out. Don’t shake your head. That is
the “evidence.” Now, absent the
chance meeting in the bar. You
heard from him next...?

HENRY
I followed the case.

MR. BARNES
In the news.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
What did you think of it?

HENRY
I had no opinion.

MR. BARNES
Why not? Everyone else did.

HENRY
I knew him. And I thought. It was
my responsibility to withhold
judgement. Because I knew him.
(pause)
 22.

MR. BARNES
And then he contacted you, from
prison.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
You were surprised.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
You were flattered.

HENRY
I don’t know, I...

MR. BARNES
What did he write?

HENRY
That he was “alone,” that he would
enjoy a correspondence, that...

MR. BARNES
But he had many friends. Didn’t he?
(pause)
Did he have friends?

HENRY
I don’t, I don’t know that he had
friends.

MR. BARNES
He “ran with a crowd,” in
college...

HENRY
He, yes, but it was more that he
“convened” a...a party, a prank, a
poker game...

MR. BARNES
Did he win? He won, didn’t he?
Playing cards.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Consistently?
 23.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Extraordinarily?

HENRY
Are you suggesting that he cheated?

MR. BARNES
I’m suggesting that the other men
paid him rent.

HENRY
On?

MR. BARNES
On his time.
(pause)
As he shone. In the limited
society, essentially, of
schoolboys...he was older than you.
Wasn’t he?

HENRY
Yes. How did you know?

MR. BARNES
Was he?

HENRY
Yes. He’d been in the Navy.

MR. BARNES
And you all were drawn to him.

HENRY
What’s wrong in that?

MR. BARNES
Did any of you, invite him home,
for the Holidays? To meet your
family?

HENRY
It never occurred to us.

MR. BARNES
Well, that would be my point. So,
you envy his success with women. In
the first instance of which he was
a pimp, in the next, at the bar, a
roué, and, then, in the news, a
murderer and rapist.
(MORE)
 24.

MR. BARNES (CONT'D)

Now, he reaches out to you, for
companionship. From prison.

HENRY
Why not?

MR. BARNES
Why you?

HENRY
Why?

MR. BARNES
Because he had you in his control.
He’d dangled the bait, those years
ago, and found a victim.

HENRY
Who’d do what?

MR. BARNES
Whatever he required at the time.

HENRY
So he was “grooming” me, for my
“compassion?”

MR. BARNES
I think, that your presence, a
productive man, a trusted man, a,
yes, an Upright Citizen; who came
to see him. Who was his friend...I
assume he asked you to write in
favor of his parole.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
He did.

HENRY
Yes, and I wrote a letter which, in
its precision, in its lack of
sentiment, you could endorse.

MR. BARNES
What did you say?
 25.

HENRY
That I knew him in college, that
I’d renewed my friendship with him
during his sentence, and that I
would be happy to employ him on his
release.

MR. BARNES
But you didn’t offer him a job.

HENRY
I, I beg your pardon, I made it
clear, I had no job to offer him,
but, if I had, I’d put it at his
disposal.
(pause)
You can read the letter.

MR. BARNES
No, that’s none of my bus... So he
understood, you had no job to offer
him.

HENRY
I made that clear.

MR. BARNES
Did he ask you to intercede with
me?
(pause)
No. Did you volunteer to do so?
(pause)

HENRY
I said I would ask you.

MR. BARNES
And what did he say? No. I’ll tell
you what he said: he told you not
to jeopardize your position with
me. Didn’t he?

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
And that he’d find employment on
his own.
(pause)

HENRY
Yes.
 26.

MR. BARNES
But, if he hadn’t a job waiting for
him, they couldn’t grant his
parole.

HENRY
It wasn’t a condition that he have
a job. Just that he could document
he was pursuing one.

MR. BARNES
Is that an extraordinary condition?

HENRY
I don’t... It was negotiated by his
attorney.

Henry points to a letter on MR. BARNES’s desk. MR. BARNES

picks it up.

HENRY (CONT’D)
He would be on a strictly
regimented parole. He would do
anything. Rather than violate it.
And return to prison.

MR. BARNES
And there was, over him, the
additional charge.
(pause)
Of murder.

HENRY
That is correct. So, let me ask
you, wouldn’t that be the best
possible guarantee?

MR. BARNES
Of?

HENRY
Of his behavior. A man. Who would
do anything. Rather than forfeit
his freedom. Wouldn’t one have to
trust this man?
(pause)
That was his lawyer’s reasoning. To
the Board. To guarantee his
behavior.

MR. BARNES
It’s a good argument.
 27.

HENRY
He’s a very good lawyer.

MR. BARNES
Yes he is.
(pause)
Does it seem to you likely that
he’d expect you would come to me?
For a job.

HENRY
I only know he asked me not to.

MR. BARNES
Then, why did you do it?

HENRY
It seems to me the right thing to
do.

MR. BARNES
Well, and if we employed him,
knowing his Past, and he, yet
again, offended the law, who, then
would be to blame?

HENRY
That’s why he asked me not to
request the favor.

MR. BARNES
But you did so anyway.

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
Knowing a positive response might
hurt the company.

HENRY
You know how I feel about the
Company.

MR. BARNES
I know the things you’ve done here.

HENRY
You’re saying my friendship put his
interests before ours.
(pause)
(MORE)
 28.

HENRY (CONT'D)
You’re saying that my relationship
is an addiction, and that it makes
you doubt my loyalty. You doubt my
loyalty.

MR. BARNES
At some point, we have conflicting
loyalties. And we must prioritize
them. Mustn’t we?
(pause)
And abide by our commitments, in
preference to indulging our
feelings. Isn’t that being Moral?
(pause)
The lawyer says, “My commitment is
not to justice, not to Truth, but
to my client, and I must do
everything to get him off.”

HENRY
Yes.

MR. BARNES
But, when he or his family are
wronged, he demands justice and the
Law’s protection. So, in each case,
he has a different commitment. Your
friend’s lawyer. Succeeded, in
obtaining his parole.

HENRY
He did.

MR. BARNES
From his point-of-view, that was
excellent work.

HENRY
From his point-of-view, yes, Good
or ill, he’s a superb attorney.

MR. BARNES
Yes, he is. And deserves his
reputation.

HENRY
Yes, he does.

MR. BARNES
Who paid him?

HENRY
Paid him? It was a pro-bono case.
 29.

MR. BARNES
It was?

HENRY
I think; as far as...

MR. BARNES
No, no, you’re mistaken.

HENRY
I am.

MR. BARNES
Yes.

HENRY
How do you know?

MR. BARNES
There was a public defender,
assigned by the Court. The
expensive lawyer replaced, him. The
paid lawyer.

HENRY
How do you know he was paid?

MR. BARNES
I contacted the Bar Association.

HENRY
You did? When?

MR. BARNES
When I received your request.

HENRY
Why?

MR. BARNES
To try to explain the absence, in
our books, of three hundred
thousand dollars.
(pause)

HENRY
What are you going to do?

MR. BARNES
According to our bylaws, I am
required to prosecute you.
 30.

HENRY
But you brought me here to hear my
story.

MR. BARNES
No, I brought you here while they
were changing the locks.

END OF SCENE ONE

 31.

SCENE TWO

INT. A JAIL CELL

Two men, Henry and GENE, a prisoner. Gene wears an old, worn
prison uniform. Henry is sitting on his bunk, bare springs, a
roll, containing his mattress, blankets, and a pillow on the
bunk next to him.

Henry wears a brand new prison uniform. He holds a small

printed card.

GENE
Many dream. Of a wise man, who
would set them straight. Most
people will fall for a line. Sweet-
talking promoter, swindler, thief,
who’s going to sell ‘em snake oil,
claiming to be that man.

Some people, see these fools who’ll

believe anything? Rather than shake
their heads in wonder, sell ‘em
snake oil. Some get rich, some get
caught, and sent away, to dissuade
the others from figuring it out.
You want someone to “explain it to
you?” Here’s the wisdom: everything
is what it seems. All the cards.
Are in the deck. It just depends on
where you cut ‘em.
(pause)
Everyone comes in here? Worried
about rape. They’re, going to:
“sodomize” me, or, in English,
“fuck me up the ass.” “How bad
would that be?” Well, you don’t
know, and, you’re afraid to “ask
the question,” then? Then, what
you’re dealing with is fear. That’s
what you’re dealing with.
(pause)
I’ll tell you about Sleeping
Beauty: Sleeping Beauty? Snow
White? She’s So Lovely, she’s
assured some one will rescue her.
Why? She knows, that what she’s
got. Between her legs? He “takes”
her, now he realizes, “Half the
Human Race have one of those.” Why
did I? Fight my way through the
thorns to her? That’s why the story
ends Happily Ever After.
(MORE)
 32.

GENE (CONT'D)

Meaning “you don’t want to know.”

Half, or, as you realize, all the
human race. Between our legs. Have
something that might be taken.
Write in on a sheet of paper?
Sleeping Beauty? This girl?
Somebody? Put her in a Magic
Castle, cast a spell on her? The
spell was already on her. Fairytale
ogre? Just? Took advantage of it.
It’s called IGNORANCE.

Alright. Now, comes the Handsome

Prince? First fellow she’s seen
since she got locked up. He
“marries” her. But, if the story
continues? If the story continues?
What does she do?
(pause)
She’s only seen two people in her
life. The one who jammed her up,
the one came back to free her. Tell
me the punchline.

HENRY
I don’t know.

GENE
It’s the same man. It has to be.
There’s nobody else in the story.
This Monster. Comes back, to see if
the imprisonment’s improved her
mood. D’you see? S’she ready? To
enjoy being a slave. Bend over, and
so on, this man, who was so good as
to, put on a different outfit, and
“come back” to see if he can have
her again? After she’s learned her
lesson.

HENRY
Which is?

GENE
To lay back, look at the ceiling
and figure it out. And? She figures
it out. That’s why the story ends.
When she got wise. She called the
story off.

The guard, JERRY, an older man, enters wheeling a library

trolly.
 33.

GENE (CONT’D)
Jerry.

JERRY
You want a book?

GENE
(indicating Henry)
This man... New man?

JERRY
...yeah?

GENE
Needs a job in the library. Where
you going?

JERRY
Off-duty.

GENE
Meeting George? Bring him a book?

JERRY
George can’t read. S’why they put
him in the Tower. Put me in the
library...

GENE
...can you read?

JERRY
Never tried...

GENE
Come on, put my friend in the
library. Short-timer, educated, do
all your work for you, Free to a
Good Home. Do me a favor.

JERRY
(moving on)
Why should I do you a favor?

GENE
Why not? I might do smthn’ for you
some day.

JERRY
I’ll bear that in mind.

Jerry exits.
 34.

HENRY
What could you do for him?

GENE
Well, everybody likes to be
informed. We know that. Keep track
of things.
(pause)
Dogs, for example. They smell fear.
And weakness. That’s how they keep
track, of what’s going on. They
track a deer. Or a bird.
Bloodhounds? Track a fugitive? So
easily? He stinks of fear. Fellow
on the run. Smell ‘im. Just like
you smell pussy. In here? They
smell fear, they’re gone kill you.
They can’t help it. You have to
learn: to suppress it. And to sense
it yourself.

HENRY
I have to learn it.

GENE
You don’t have to learn it, but, if
you don’t you’ll die. People say,
The Joint, is a jungle. Ever hear
that, life in here?

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
Life everywhere is a jungle.
Difference is, out there, there are
those too ignorant to know it. If
they’re exempted, by chance, we
call them citizens. When the hand
falls on them, then we call them
victims. In here, the lessons you
learn, you take them out to the
street. Because you’ve been “fucked
up”? No. Because You’ve Been Put
Wise.
(pause)
Difference between the straight-
john and the wise guy is not Good
or Evil. It’s just knowing what’s
going on. Now. Inside-outside, you
need something. To get over on
those you need to control.

(MORE)
 35.

GENE (CONT'D)
You going to try to put it over on
the wiseguy or the ignorant.

HENRY
The ignorant.

GENE
That’s right. Outside they call
this “business.” Antique dealer,
got a piece of trash, he goin’ to
take it to a connoisseur or to a
dupe?

HENRY
He’ll take it to a dupe.

GENE
The doctor says “call me tomorrow.”
What does that mean?

HENRY
He’s playing for time.

GENE
That’s right. Politician tells you
it’ll all be free. Christ changed
water into wine. The whores of
Government claim they can do the
same. But we don’t burn them for
blasphemy. Are these people capable
of magicking an everyday object
into “all your delights?” Are you?

HENRY
No.

GENE
Then why would you ever trust
anyone who said they could? Are
they different from you? You think?
Smarter than you? Better? Luckier?
Anyone. Tries to convince you of
that, don’t judge him by his
promises.

HENRY
What should I judge him by?

GENE
By the Fact that he Promised. Why
should he do that? He knew, how to
beat the stock market, beat the
races, why would he tell you? Would
you tell him?
 36.

HENRY
No.

GENE
So, two things, you must identify.
In yourself, the impulse. To
believe. When you do that, then you
are free to see what the other
fella’s trying to do.

HENRY
And the other thing?

GENE
With this wisdom, you will come to
sense the others, who want to be
taken advantage of.

HENRY
And what can I do with them?

GENE
Whatever you want. Don’t contend
agains the strong. The people who
are ruling you, they don’t. You’ve
never seen it. People are savages.
The weak, and the foolish are the
prey. Not only of the folks in
here, but of everyone in life.

HENRY
(pause)
Why are there laws?

GENE
What put you here?

Why does a girl, bat her eyes at

you, look away, brush her hair
back. She. Is performing the
illusion of: inaccessibility. Why
would she do that? So you’ll follow
her. Laws exist; to celebrate a
lie: that people are just, and that
there is any way to amalgamate them
to make the lie true.

HENRY
Some innocents go free.

GENE
And some fools in Vegas win a
fortune. Why?
 37.

HENRY
You tell me.

GENE
It’s an advertisement. You didn’t
have the Illusion of Law, how would
the Lawyers buy their boats? “Ho
hum, you’re going to go away. I got
my fee, think I’ll buy that boat.”

HENRY
I had a good lawyer.

GENE
Then why are you here?

Henry starts to arrange his bunk. Gene reads from the card.

GENE (CONT’D)
(reading)
“Approved for Counseling.”

HENRY
What’s wrong with counseling?

GENE
Nothing. If you’re selling it.
(re: the card)
This broad? She don’t even know why
she’s here.

HENRY
Do you?

GENE
She’s here to pay her rent.

HENRY
Perhaps she wants to help.

GENE
To help.

HENRY
Others.

GENE
To do what?

HENRY
To...understand why they are here.
 38.

GENE
Some judge sent them here. Or do
you mean “why they did wrong?” I’ll
tell you: it seemed like a good
idea at the time. So, what do you
need a doctor for? Perhaps she’ll
“be your friend.”
(pause)
Perhaps I’ll be your friend.

HENRY
Why should you be my friend?

GENE
There might be some entertainment
in it. You want a friend?

HENRY
Why should I trust you?

GENE
You don’t have to. But you have to
trust somebody. Or you’ll die on
the Yard.

HENRY
But why you?

GENE
Betty and Veronica.
(pause)
It’s the same girl with a different
wig? Perhaps. But you get to
choose.

END OF SCENE TWO

 39.

SCENE THREE

INT. THE PRISON LIBRARY

Gene and Henry. Henry now in worn prison clothes, wearing

glasses. He is at the library table, stacks of books and card
catalogue trays in front of him. He holds a legal-looking
letter.

Pause, Henry takes off his glasses and shakes his head.

GENE
What did your lawyer say?

HENRY
They’re getting me a Public
Defender.
(pause)

GENE
Who is?

HENRY
The Court.

GENE
He left the case?

HENRY
That’s right.

GENE
Isn’t he bound, by law, to
continue, with your case?

HENRY
It’s a new charge.

GENE
Yes?

HENRY
And he asked the court to be
excused.

Pause, Gene takes the letter and reads.

GENE
Yes. Ain’t that something.

HENRY
Yes. It is.
 40.

GENE
Do you have a meeting with the
court-appointed guy?

HENRY
What’s the point?

GENE
Yes, that’s true.

HENRY
(pause)
Do you have any words of comfort?

GENE
Your “doctor” friend comforted you?

HENRY
She cried when I told her.

GENE
Uh huh.

Jerry walks by, rolling his car of books.

Pause. He exits.

GENE (CONT’D)
We note that it wasn’t your regular
appointment day.

HENRY
She came in when she heard about
it.

GENE
So, she heard about it before she
came in.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
And that’s why she came in.

HENRY
That’s right.

GENE
On her day off.

HENRY
Yes.
 41.

GENE
To “comfort” you.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
Is that against the rules?

HENRY
I don’t know. Yes. In Sympathy.

GENE
She cried “when you told her.”

HENRY
That’s right.

GENE
But she already knew about it.

HENRY
She asked me to tell her the story.

GENE
And then she cried.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
And then she told you her story.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
In Sympathy.

HENRY
I think so, yes.

GENE
That “she’s” a criminal, too...?
That...That, she, what, that she
“stole” a pistol...?
(pause)
She. Absconded with it.
(pause)
She: “didn’t know why she did it,”
and “isn’t that the essence of
crime”...? And we’re all sinners.
 42.

HENRY
Why would she tell me, except to
comfort me?

GENE
(pause)
She...wants you to join her. In
some, what, conjunction, for you
are so much alike. You, don’t
belong here. Neither does she, but
here you both are. And, “mustn’t
that mean something...?” To find
her handsome prince in this
shithole. And, isn’t wisdom always
found “in the Low Places?” And,
wouldn’t it be bravery? To
recognize it.
(pause)
She, who is so overcome with Pity.
For your betrayals. Wants to Reach
Out to you. If you will but “open
yourself” - as she does.

If you spread your legs, so she can

pour her Goodness into you... A
poor victim... Why does she cry?

HENRY
...alright...

GENE
So you’ll cry. Which means she’s
“done her job” - she’s “broken
through” to you - so her life isn’t
a sham. Well, I say fuck her. I say
use her, and...

HENRY
...I...

GENE
...as she is using you. As she
comes here to “go among her poor”
who are the only people she knows
herself superior to. Why? As she
has not been caught.

HENRY
...for what?

GENE
She just told you. For her Great
Crime. You see? The Secret of her
excellence, which she alone knows.
(MORE)
 43.

GENE (CONT'D)
She’s a criminal, too. She’s a spy,
walking among her enemies. In a
world they don’t even know exists.
Now she? Wants to tell you the
secret. She is the arch criminal,
she? She is not what she seems. And
she is not where she belongs? Why
does anyone tell a secret?

HENRY
Why?

GENE
To get one in return.
(pause)
Tell her you don’t believe her.

HENRY
Why?

GENE
Listen to me:
(pause)
Now she said it was at her
Graduation. The pistol. Was always
awarded to the first in the class.
An ivory handled pistol.
(pause)
And a friend of hers stole it, and
gave it to her to hide. To protect
him. Why is she telling you that
story now?

HENRY
To comfort me.

GENE
Because, you’re suffering for a
friend... And, so, she’s just like
you. She want to suffer with you.
That’s what “sympathy” means.

HENRY
You think I don’t deserve sympathy?

GENE
That’s not how you keep track.

Gene motions to the letter.

 44.

GENE (CONT’D)
Your friend show you any sympathy?
You stole for him, he broke his
parole, they charged him with
murder, and he gave you up. As his
accomplice, to lessen his sentence.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
That you...
(of the letter)
...”supplied him with various
banned materials...”

HENRY
Why would I do that?

GENE
What the fuck difference does it
make? “To abort the...”

HENRY
...why would I...

GENE
Why would you do that? You’re his
punk, aren’t you? End of the day?
What you’ve told me? Put you on the
street to steal for him. You should
of jumped out at him first: “He
made me steal the money,” he this
and he that...

HENRY
...his lawyer.

GENE
His fucking lawyer. Put you here.
Who you paid. Who you stole for.
And now here you are. Paying the
price for wisdom.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
(reading the letter)
She “pities” you. She says, I
presume she’s said, she used the
words. I pity you, in effect. She
“loves” you.
 45.

HENRY
...I...

GENE
For your “humanity.” For the Wrongs
you have suffered. She is stymied,
and wishes to make a gift it, if
she can, in sympathy, for All
Mankind, of which you are the
Representative. Which is why she
has gone into “the profession” in
the first place. You see? And now
you’re an Idea made real. In
sympathy for you? What does she
know about you? Conversations over
a desk. Just a symbol. To exploit.
Who Cannot Exploit Her. Which has
been the story of her life. She is
protected. By a desk. And so, plays
out her fantasy. With you. Who are
her doll. This is: a virgin fantasy
of motherhood. They are unaware,
you see, of their... They are
unused to feeling anything. Are
they sub-human?

HENRY
...they...?

GENE
No, say they are unused. To
emotion. Those they may feel they
are too cowardly to name.

HENRY
As...? Envy...?

GENE
...more then envy, which is, I
think, too advanced. Say: the urge
to surrender. They speak of rape,
and, we hear, they love to repeat,
“the prevalence of rape.”
Not...yes? That they decry, but
that they thrill to repeat it. In
this, they, safely, can submit
themselves to the group. And call
it “the urge to belong.” In that
group, do you see, to prize, “the
assertion of individuality,” with
that group of the “like-minded.”
(pause)
The Mob.
 46.

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
We’ve spoken about The Mob.

HENRY
Yes. We have.

GENE
So they form into The Mob, which
they call The Righteous, and become
indignant, and enraged. The men
become feminized, and we see them.
The women and the men. They can’t
be awakened. For, they aren’t
asleep. They’re dead. That’s what
one has to know. Who moves among
them. Those that have this
awareness, which is to say are
separate from the mob, the people
praise as “great.” Why? Because the
mob loves to submit. To Monsters?
To the Celebrated? To the
Accomplished? To anyone whatever,
who may ignite in them, for one
instant, that feeling. Of proximity
to power. Which release like the
sexual, in which, in them, mimics
it, the only approach they may have
to confirmation of their being.
(pause)

The guard, Jerry, walks by.

JERRY
Ten minutes.

GENE
Thank you.

JERRY
That’s a hard ten.

GENE
Give it a rest for a minute, will
you?
(pause)

Jerry moves on.

GENE (CONT’D)
(pause)
Why’d she take this job?
(MORE)
 47.

GENE (CONT’D)
Is it a job you’d want? Can you
think of anyone who’d want this
job? Low pay, no prestige,
listening to a parade of crooks,
lying to you. Treating you with
disrespect. To think you would fall
for their blather. Finding God,
repentance, good works, debt to
society. They are sitting there,
with the only people they can be
assured they’re superior to. A
bunch of fools, not smart enough,
to evade broken nets of the law.
They sit there. And we must think
they fantasize: “Why, if I had:
robbed that bank, embezzled those
funds, murdered my wife, I would
certainly be smart enough to have
pulled it off. How difficult can it
be, and these poor fools, these
‘criminals’ bitch about ‘give me
one more chance.’” To what? The
Parole Board. Has no sympathy, for
the criminal. They have none for
the victims, to whom, also, they
feel themselves superior, “I
wouldn’t have let this obvious thug
within ten miles of my: bank
account, credit card, boudoir, the
poor fools who got taken, far as
I’m concerned deserve it, leaving
me here to clean up the sordid
mess. Caused by their inattention.”

HENRY
...yes?

GENE
But she cried, when she read the
letter. And you’ve told me. That
she admitted that she was.
Attracted to you.

HENRY
...that’s right...

GENE
And that the “feeling was mutual.”
But, you must see that this is
delusion. Do you?

HENRY
Why?
 48.

GENE
What could you do about it? What
could she?

HENRY
She could if...

GENE
Yes? If. Yes? You were married? To
a man, convicted of murder, now,
here for all day. Connected with
this man, if you were married?
(pause)

HENRY
...they have allowed it.

GENE
They, theoretically, can allow it.
She would have to resign her
position...

HENRY
...no, she could simply resign from
my case.

GENE
...let me finish: or be fired.

HENRY
For?

GENE
Getting taken down by a con.
(pause)
It’s much better. If we, if you
don’t encourage her.

HENRY
...better for whom?

GENE
For you, cause if they grow wise to
your ability to “get over” on an
official. What’s that say to the
parole board? You’ll be tagged til
the end of time, and, believe me,
you’ll serve every day. For who
would take the chance to sign you
out, and be labelled as a fool for
listening? Like this broad. What
she’s offering is not comfort, but
a life in prison. Would you? What
did you do to this broad?
(MORE)
 49.

GENE (CONT'D)
In her office? What? Or are you a
lanternfish, you dangle that lamp
in front of your mouth. To attract
prey? You have to think. Think.
She. Now, she. “Who cried.” Why did
she come here? To this job? Walk it
back. An attractive woman, never
married...

HENRY
...how’d you know that?

GENE
It’s important. Isn’t it? That she
told you.

HENRY
How did you know she told me?

GENE
Baby, I do it for a living. She
told you, to surrender to you. To
give you that gift which she could
not make of her body. Look at this
girl: you couldn’t dream her. Comes
here, frustrated in her life. She
cannot “feel” “Good,” so she comes
to do good. Where? Around men.
Which men? Those she can desire at
a remove. Protected from them by
her Position? By a desk? By bars.
She can even marry them. Without
challenge to her sexuality. You see
that? Further? Oh, my, now? She can
dominate them. Their actual
freedom. Is in her hands. She’s
living a schoolgirl romance. “What
will it be when I get married?” “I
will be ‘best friends,’ with a
lovely boy, and we will ‘be’
together, and ‘talk.’” And, as she
is convinced she is unattractive,
she will hold over her puppy lover,
the actual threat of imprisonment.
You think she can aid you, to an
early release? But what could be
further from the truth? For, if she
“set you loose,” she’d never see
you again.

But she has made an offer to you.

Which has revealed her sickness. If
you are the Handsome Prince.
(MORE)
 50.

GENE (CONT'D)
If you are The Predestined One, if
you can Pass through the Forest of
Thorns, by the Path which she has
Shown You, you might follow the
path to her profoundest wish.
Hidden behind the sick playacting.

HENRY
...her profoundest wish?

GENE
That’s right.

HENRY
For me to take her? Sexually? To,
what? To “take her, to “rape” her?

GENE
No. This broad. Loathes herself.
With a depth of disgust
unimaginable not only to others,
but to herself. She cannot admit
the existence. Of the sexual urge.

HENRY
Because it is “shameful”?

GENE
Because she does not possess it.
And, so, she knows herself to be a
monster. So she wants to kill. And
be killed, and be discovered in her
savagery, which is to say, to be
degraded. And unashamed.
Unutterably. And, so, unique. And,
so admirable, and not the tormented
cripple she knows herself to be. I
would think, she is so tired. Every
experiment she’s tried has failed.
Which is why she repeats them. This
sleeping beauty, screened by a
forest of thorns. Lives in her
dreams. These two creatures, two
parts of the soul, loathing each
other. Now, a man comes to her, to
offer her the unimagined thing. A
prison Marriage?

HENRY
What does he offer her?

Jerry the guard comes by, and leaves the now empty book cart.
 51.

JERRY
You’ve got a hard five, and I’ve
got to call it, I’m going Off.

GENE
Have a drink with George?

JERRY
What do you think.

GENE
My man has had a hard day.

JERRY
I know, and I’m sorry, but I have
to turn it over.

Jerry exits.

GENE
(pause)
You’re two of a kind, cause you’re
both Outlaws, she tells you, she’s
a thief, too. She says she stole a
gun.

HENRY
So?

GENE
Tell her you don’t believe her.

HENRY
Is it impossible?

GENE
It’s not impossible, alright? It’s
unlikely. Alright. What isn’t?

HENRY
But I “disbelieve” it. Why?

GENE
To make her “convince” you.
(pause)
She came to you, alright, in the
library. She liked seeing you here,
didn’t she?

HENRY
To talk.
 52.

GENE
Int’ that against the rules? That
she comes in here?

HENRY
Yes.

GENE
What does it men that she alters
the rules?

HENRY
She did it in sympathy.

GENE
Well, why should she stop there? As
Any Approach? You see? When you
Alter. The Rules. It’s an
Invitation?

HENRY
To?

GENE
What has she been telling you, all
this time? With her sad stories,
how she “shares your pain,” and,
what, does she, understand your
disgrace, and the loneliness of so
forth. What the hell do you think
she’s doing, except Courting you?
Of course she is. With her tale,
“the forbidden things she did for a
friend,” the “Ivory Handled
Graduation Pistol.”

HENRY
And, so, what should I do?

GENE
Tell her you don’t believe her.

HENRY
That I don’t believe?

GENE
The story of the gun.

HENRY
Isn’t that an insult?

GENE
It’s the outcome, alright, of your.
Your mistreatment.
(MORE)
 53.

GENE (CONT'D)
You’ve been betrayed. By one who
was your friend. Betrayed and here
you are, again, with one you opened
yourself to. She wants you? To
“share confidences”? What does that
mean, but “I’ll show you mine, you
show me yours.” You are the Little
Boy, and she’s the Ice Cream
Peddler, in this seduction. And she
brings you a gift.

HENRY
What gift?

GENE
Her sad confession.
(pause)
But what if you don’t believe her?
You’d like to believe her, but you
cannot. The story’s improbable. And
you’ve lost the ability to trust.
Now, in effect, you’ve rejected
her. She’s not the Hidden Princess.
She’s some sick fool, working for
the Government. Her tale. Is a
thoughtful gift, but, you’ve been
betrayed so often, you can’t even
accept her beautiful gift. What
does she do now? She needs to prove
her story. How does she prove it?

HENRY
How?

GENE
You tell her to bring you a proof.

HENRY
A proof of her story.

GENE
Yes.

HENRY
(pause)
The gun?

GENE
...I don’t know.

HENRY
Why would she bring me the gun?
 54.

GENE
Well, if she doesn’t, all her
fables must be false.

HENRY
What if they are false?

GENE
Well, then, she’ll have to buy a
gun. Won’t she?

HENRY
She won’t bring me a loaded gun.

GENE
Of course not. You wouldn’t ask her
to. You just ask her to bring a
token. At your meetings. Once a
month.

HENRY
A “token.”

GENE
That’s right.

HENRY
Of what?

GENE
...let her fill it in.
(pause)

HENRY
What would the token be?

GENE
A bullet. At your meetings. Once a
month.
(pause)
And then you tell her to bring you
the gun.

HENRY
And if she won’t?

GENE
You tell her you’ll denounce her.

HENRY
(pause)
And if she brings it, what will we
do then?
 55.

GENE
Whatever we want.

END OF ACT ONE

 56.

ACT TWO

INT. PRISON LIBRARY

The room now in ruins, tables used as a barricade, glass

broken, the wall pockmarked with bullet holes. Henry and
Jerry disheveled.

Henry holds a gun on Jerry.

JERRY
Yeah, the Troopers. Shot the White
boys dead. Back then. The Old
Force, you know.
(pause)
I first came on? Harley Electra-
Glides, the Troopers, jodhpurs, big
boots, so on. Eight-point caps. No
helmets. Back then?
(pause)
Carried the riot gun in a
motorcycle scabbard. “Halo Effect.”

VOICE OVER P.A.

LET THE OFFICER GO, THROW OUT YOUR
WEAPONS, AND COME OUT WITH YOUR
HANDS UP. YOU HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES.

HENRY
What will they do?

JERRY
I don’t know. You’re the one who
knows.

HENRY
What does that mean?

JERRY
Well. You’ve got the gun.

HENRY
It depends on what they do. Doesn’t
it? It depends on if they meet my
demands.

JERRY
Well, they can’t meet your demands.
Can they? Now...?

HENRY
Could they?
 57.

JERRY
...and are they even your demands?

HENRY
What do you mean?

JERRY
He wrote ‘em. Didn’t he?

HENRY
How would you know that?

JERRY
Old timers. Watching. Watching
you... Forty years in, George said
to me, one day, “they should kick
that fellow out. Before he does
some damage.”

HENRY
He said that of who?

JERRY
Pay you to leave. He said it of
you, there’s nothing new. Maybe
he’s better off. Maybe they all
are. “Degree in Psychology.” Well,
she learned something, didn’t
she...?
(pause)

VOICE OVER P.A.

LET THE OFFICER GO, THROW OUT YOUR
WEAPONS, AND COME OUT WITH YOUR
HANDS UP. YOU HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES.
(pause)

HENRY
The troopers shot those white boys
dead.

JERRY
Well, the State had abolished the
Death Penalty. There’s a good idea.
(pause)
George. Always joked with me;
called me “the Old Librarian.
Whatever happened to The Rooster.
Scourge of E-Block, convicts piss
their pants and so on?” Meanwhile,
they put him, goodness of their
hearts, up on the catwalk. Packet
of RedMan, and a Romance Novel.
(pause)
(MORE)
 58.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Thompson Gun and a thirty round
magazine. You old broke-dick fart,
I said, “I know it’s empty. F’I
know it, they know it, too.” “Let
‘em,” he said, “I don’t want to
shoot n’e-body.”

HENRY
You were a Hard Case?

JERRY
Back then?

HENRY
Yes.

JERRY
You come on? You don’t have
knowledge? You better have a
hickory stick. “I’m on the Tier.
I’m gonebe here all day.”
(pause)
But you start to let down. See?
Over time. You start to let down,
you know? And, you know it?
Everybody else knows it, too.
(pause)
George? Comes down here, end-of-the-
shift: and there’s a Gunman.

VOICE OVER P.A.

YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.

JERRY
You thought it out any further, or
you just going to “Let it Be”? That
your plan?

HENRY
Why did he come down here, George?

JERRY
Talk to me about something.

HENRY
What did he come down to tell you?

JERRY
Never got around to it. You and
your girlfriend. Very limited
spree. What was I saying? Halo
Effect. We were “all got-up,”
people around us would act with
more restraint.
(MORE)
 59.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Unless, what they wanted was to
kill a cop. Shot that old Sergeant,
at the overpass. Dressed up like
Genr’l Patton, but he’s just some
fellow going home.
(pause)
Two white boys. High as a kite.
Union comes in. Now we’re not
Deputies, we’re not “Guards,” we’re
Corrections Officers. Prohibited
from wearing the uniform outside
the facility. “Corrections
Officers.”

Raise in pay. Took it all back in

dues. Change out of the uniform,
and go home. You could carry a gun
off-duty, if you want. Concealed
Carry. Union, I’ll give ‘em that.
Fellow gets out, you knew him in
here, comes looking for you.

HENRY
Has that happened?

JERRY
I don’t know that it has or not.
But that knowledge, you see, to the
cons, might be a deterrent.
(pause)

HENRY
What happened to the two white
boys?

JERRY
I told you. Staties got ‘em. Ran
‘em off the road. Shot ‘em dead.
(pause)
George, I believe it was, said
“let’s go fishing. I’d never been
much for it. I believe it was when
I was putting his boy’s gear up,
Ken.
(pause)
To donate it or something. Though I
don’t know who to. But, you know,
time like that, your thoughts run
crazily. He couldn’t handle it.
(pause)
We did go hunting. Once or twice.
(MORE)
 60.

JERRY (CONT'D)
But hunting, you know, you’re out
in the woods, “you take that stand,
I’ll take this.” You only see each
other at night. Back at the camp,
cook dinner, have a drink. Occurs
to us: you can do this without
going hunting.

Getting on, fellows die in the

woods. Hunting. You know that? You
know why? Lugging the deer back.
Truest thing you know? Die of a
heart attack. Everybody knows
somebody. You get old.
(pause)
We’d be there. Every couple years.
Sleep, drink. Think.

HENRY
What did you think about?

JERRY
The Job. Families. Old Friends.
(pause)
State of the world.
(pause)
Shot a bit. Targets.

HENRY
Hunting rifles.

JERRY
After the first year, second year,
we’d stop taking ‘em. George said,
“saw enough of it. Over there.”
That wasn’t it. You have to smile,
just too much trouble to clean ‘em.
Old cops. Rather sit on the porch.
(pause)
Friends, sometimes. Good friends.
Of course they were all on the job.
People start dying. Kids move away.
Or aren’t speaking to you, Divorce.
Drinking. New kids, coming on the
job. Who’s left of The Old Guard?
Put me out to pasture in the
Library. George? S’going to put in
his papers. “And do what?” I say.
Hard as they’re working. To do the
right thing. Keep you on, sixty-
four, five, Old Fat Man. Put in
your papers and do what? Young
idiots, come on?
(MORE)
 61.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Degree in Psychology. Let them run
it. That’s where you got the gun.
Isn’t it?

HENRY
Who was Ken?

JERRY
Well, that was George’s boy. Wasn’t
it. They’re dead.
(pause)
And then they stay Dead.

HENRY
(pause)
You said that you’d go fishing?

JERRY
Did I say that?

HENRY
I think you did.
(pause)
Were you asleep?

JERRY
No.
(pause)
We might of gone fishing. Once.
Ken? When he went into the Service.
Had this tackle. And he said, use
it, or sell it, if I wanted.

HENRY
Wasn’t he coming back?

JERRY
We didn’t think so. Though we never
said it. Why would he? Old days,
maybe, people had this fantasy,
“dad’s footsteps.” Take over the
hardware store. Our kind of life.
Or your life, no offense...

HENRY
Yes.

JERRY
The Business. A “doctor,” or. But
we’d never, his mother’s side, too,
been nothing but poor people.
Though you would say “working
class.” Failed farmers, before
that, you know.
(MORE)
 62.

JERRY (CONT'D)
(pause)
Factory closed, you moved away, or
went into the service, many smart
ones. Ken. Always wanted to be a
soldier. I would of thought he got
it from me, his father, but it was
from the television. I’d of told
him. “It’s not like that.” At least
it wun’t for me. And then, of
course, he always saw me with a
weapon, uniform. Before they
changed the rules, Corrections
Officers also, legally Deputy
Sheriffs. Said it was “the Halo
Effect,” folks, saw some guy in a
Sam Browne Belt, decided to behave
well. Just a scam. State, just
wanted to lay off some salaries on
the County. That’s all.

HENRY
They carried the gun outside.

JERRY
But they changed it.

HENRY
They did. Why?

JERRY
Shootout. I told you. It was, the
rest area? They had then, on the
six-ten, overpass, “rest area,”
filling station, cafe. On the
overpass.
(pause)
“Rest Area?”

HENRY
Yes, then.

JERRY
“Oasis.” That was new. Prison was
new. I got the job. Old Sergeant,
driving home. Double-shift. Got up
like Halloween, Sam Brown belt,
forty-five revolver. Stops off at
the “oasis.” Comes out of the cafe,
box of doughnuts, he’s taking to
the kids. Two thugs, holding up the
gas-station. “Oh, look: there’s a
cop.” Shot him like that.
(pause)
Waal, Union comes in, “This man?
(MORE)
 63.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Wu’unt a Statie? Deputy Sheriff?
He’s a Prison Guard. On the way
home. Got shot because he was
wearing the wrong costume.
(pause)
They told me, when I started out,
“This is a microcosm.” It isn’t.
It’s just one more place.
(pause)
Your story. Is very much like mine,
which presumable means it’s the
same as everyones. You look too
long at it? You say, “I’m going
mad.”

HENRY
That’s right.

JERRY
And we say, “Yes, there must be
laws,” until we meet a lawyer. Or a
judge.
(pause)
Or a jury. We say “the facts are
unclear,” when it pertains to us,
or “there’s another
interpretation,” but that’s not
what we say when we’ve been
wronged.
(pause)
Or betrayed. It’s such a terrible
wrong, isn’t it? When you’ve said
“you and me, against the world,”
then you discover it’s just you.
Fellows. Who killed their wives.
Fellows, shot their partner; and
many, asked to do this or that, as
a “moral duty,” they’d call it an
Act of Friendship, but that’s what
they mean, by a friend. “I need you
to do something for me. Not, for
greed, or revenge, or power, but
for a friend.” Where, if one did
it, he would be subject to the law.
(pause)
But we don’t refuse from principle.
Do we?

HENRY
No.

JERRY
Although we say we do. We refuse
from fear.
(MORE)
 64.

JERRY (CONT'D)
(pause)
They might have met them before.

HENRY
My demands.

JERRY
They might have met them. Some of
them.

HENRY
They couldn’t meet them all?

JERRY
No, but that’s how you do business.
Isn’t it?

HENRY
How?

JERRY
By bargaining. We know that. You
ask for more, I suggest less, we
feel the other’s position out. What
they say, what they mean...

HENRY
To “find what’s fair.”

JERRY
Oh, no. Nobody wants what’s “fair”
don’t we learn that?
(pause)
Fellow, working for us, when we had
the big farm? My dad? Put me out in
the fields, to pick with him.

HENRY
Did you like it?

JERRY
Couple of things: It’s a sign of
growth, I was going to say, “Being
a man,” but, that age, you know
you’re not a Man. But, if the
work’s real, you know you’re not a
child. You’re Helping the family.
That’s how you learn. Isn’t it?
Where is the education, sit on your
ass listen to some idiot, call it
“school”?

HENRY
Is that what you tell your son?
 65.

JERRY
My grandson.

HENRY
Is that what you tell him?

JERRY
I have.

HENRY
And, did you wife “chastise” you?

JERRY
That’s The Storybook Life. Of
course she did. All playing a part.
Kid sits and grins. Beautiful
(pause)
Beautiful kid.

HENRY
The fellow in the fields.

JERRY
My dad put me with him.

HENRY
Your dad, didn’t work the fields?

JERRY
When we had the Big Farm? No. He
was in the office. Fellow he put me
with, with us quite a while. Most
of them seasonal, of course,
winters, he lived in Tehachapi,
worked for us, in the sheds, or did
odd jobs around the place, we
needed help. Good years, we kept
him on the place. He was an Arab
fellow. He told me, we were in town
for something, my dad sent us, Feed
and Seed, had a list. This and
that, going out, Middle-Eastern
fellow, he remembers, we need some
half-inch hemp. Coil in the corner,
we go in, “whatever he says,”
fellow says, “offer a half-cent
less.” My family? I say: “That’s
not how we do business! This rug
merchant behavior.” You know how a
boy is?

HENRY
You want to talk, so they can get
in place. The shooters.
 66.

JERRY
You don’t, you don’t know my
motives.
(pause)
Many times, when your mind’s
splitting? Especially? You’re
driving home, screaming, in your
car. You hope, for someone to hit
you, and you’ll take out your rage
on them. You’re, carrying a
firearm? That’s the factor, keeps
you in check.

HENRY
It keeps you in check?

JERRY
Because, it’s that one half-second,
between your impulse and somebody’s
dead.

HENRY
I didn’t shoot your friend.

JERRY
Alright.

HENRY
Do you believe me?

JERRY
If I did, would it make a
difference? Being so, why would you
need me to say I did?

HENRY
What happened when you bought the
rope?

JERRY
The rope. I’m all upset, that he
humiliated me, with this
“bargaining.” All the way home.
We’re unloading the truck, he looks
at me, he says, “Why was that rope
forty cents a foot?” “That was the
price,” I say. “Where’d the price
come from?” He says. “S’just
something the man wrote on a card.
Why was that the price?” I think a
bit, I say, “because it was
‘fair.’” “No.
(MORE)
 67.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Because he thought he could get
it,” he says, “angel didn’t come
down and tell him what to charge
for rope. He didn’t think it was
‘fair,’ he thought he could get it.

HENRY
Why did he only tell you to bargain
about the rope?

JERRY
Well, that’s what I asked. When we
unloaded the stores. He smiled. He
wiped his hand over the coil of
rope, shows it to me. It’s covered
in dust. Been sitting on the shelf
ten years.
(pause)
If we’re attentive, we see,
sometimes, that The Old Thing no
longer holds sway.

HENRY
What happened to him?

JERRY
Sometimes, the bargain, changes.
And we have to chose again. And
hope that we know better.

HENRY
What happened to the Middle-Eastern
fellow?

JERRY
Your friend “shopped” you, didn’t
he? Jacked you up and turned you
in. Your cell mate. That’s when the
nickel dropped.
(pause)
What did you think? He wanted to
“Shoot his way out?”
(pause)
He wanted to set you up. No
different, come home too early,
wife’s in bed with your pal. And
“things got out of hand.” Here
comes the Red Curtain. That’s why
it’s called “a crime of passion.”
(pause)

HENRY
I don’t even remember firing the
gun.
 68.

JERRY
You heard that. So many times. On
the street? “My hand slipped.”
...woman lying there. “I didn’t
know it was loaded.” Well, now you
know.
(pause)

HENRY
I thought he was my friend.

JERRY
Really? Stick you up in the shop
window? Sign around your neck?
“Inquire within.” What did you
think, he wanted to “Break out?”

HENRY
Maybe he did.

JERRY
And go where?
(pause)
And do what when he got there? He
liked it here.

HENRY
...stay over there, please.

JERRY
We have to make a choice. Because,
what’s the alternative?

HENRY
The alternative.

JERRY
If they, conclude, you’re not going
to surrender. They flood the block
with gas.

HENRY
What’s stopping them?

JERRY
The fear that if they do you’ll
shoot me.

HENRY
Why would they think that?
 69.

JERRY
Because you said you would. In your
demands. You read ‘em?
(pause)

HENRY
What is the alternative?

JERRY
To walk out.
(pause)

HENRY
They’ll kill me.

JERRY
I don’t think so.

HENRY
No, you know they’ll kill me. Won’t
they?

JERRY
You want the truth?

HENRY
Yes.

JERRY
Not with the Press around.
(pause)

HENRY
But, you know they want to. You
would. Wouldn’t you, if you were
out there? Wouldn’t you? Tell me.

JERRY
One day, yes. I would have.

HENRY
Now?

JERRY
People change. George, when his boy
died. Everyone. That’s not unique.
My age? Now you’re looking at the
end. And you think: please don’t
let me add to my sins. Did you.
Become wise? No. You just got
tired. I only want to go home. If
that’s possible.
(pause)
(MORE)
 70.

JERRY (CONT'D)
I hope you benefit, from whatever
course you choose. I swear to God I
do. Whatever that benefit might be.

HENRY
What could it be? They, they won’t,
they can’t “meet the demands”...
How could they?

JERRY
But those aren’t your demands. Are
they?

HENRY
...no.

JERRY
They’re his, and he’s dead. Look at
it. HE started the shooting.

HENRY
...he did.

JERRY
You? Never fired a shot. Did you?

HENRY
No.

JERRY
No, of course not, and maybe, I
would think you: tried to stop him.
(pause)
And that: that you saved me.

HENRY
...is that so?

JERRY
It might be I remember that you
tried to stop him.

HENRY
Why would you remember that?

JERRY
As that’s what saved me.

HENRY
I saved you.

JERRY
In the midst of all the shooting.
(pause)
 71.

HENRY
And why have we been waiting here?

JERRY
You said it yourself: From fear
that they’d kill you.
(pause)

HENRY
I shot your friend.

JERRY
You told me you can’t remember
firing the gun. Did you tell me
that?

HENRY
Yes.

JERRY
Is that the truth?

HENRY
It is.

JERRY
...then?
(pause)

HENRY
But what if it’s not true?
(pause)

JERRY
What would it profit me if you
died, too?

HENRY
You’d have revenge.

JERRY
I have no use for it.

HENRY
He was your friend.

JERRY
How is his memory served by
allowing them to kill you? Will you
tell me that? Henry?
(pause)
Seriously. At the end of a long
life.
(pause)
 72.

HENRY
Tell me why I kept you here.

JERRY
I told you.

HENRY
Tell me again.

JERRY
I kept you here. So that I could
explain it to you. Which I have.

HENRY
But I kept you here. By force.

JERRY
And then you changed your mind. And
Saved Us Both. For which, I’ll
stand by you.

HENRY
How do they know I changed my mind?

JERRY
As you gave me the gun.
(pause)
You’ll have to give me the gun.
Henry? They have to see I have it.
When we come out.
(pause)

HENRY
They’ll kill me.

JERRY
They’ll want to.

HENRY
Will you protect me from them?

JERRY
I told you I would.

HENRY
I shot your friend. And you’d
protect me? Why?

JERRY
Because that’s the job I took.
(pause)
I’m an American Guy, Henry. I got
my nose broke in high school
football.
(MORE)
 73.

JERRY (CONT'D)
Lost my cherry at the drive-in.
Came back from the Senior Trip and
fetched up here. Been here a long
time. I just want to go home.

HENRY
You’ll walk me out?

JERRY
You have to give me the gun.

HENRY
I’m afraid you’ll shoot me.

JERRY
Do you know how to operate the
pistol? Button on the side, drops
the magazine, then you can give the
gun to me.

HENRY
And then it will be empty?

JERRY
No. There’s still one round in the
chamber. You knew that.
(pause)

HENRY
Yes.

JERRY
Well.
(pause)

HENRY
What should I do?

JERRY
Do what you want. People generally
do.

HENRY
(pause)
I don’t want to die.

JERRY
They’ll try you, and they’ll
sentence you. You’ll have a life in
here. You can get used to anything.
(pause)

HENRY
What will you tell them?
 74.

JERRY
That you did the right thing.
(pause)

Henry unloads and hands Jerry the pistol. The magazine and
ammunition fallen to the library floor.

JERRY (CONT’D)
Thank you.

Henry bends down to pick up the magazine, and motions to

offer it to Jerry.

JERRY (CONT’D)
No. You keep the ammunition. I want
you to show, you had it, but you
didn’t use it.
(he gestures to the
ammunition on the floor)
That’s how much damage you
prevented.

HENRY
(to self)
That’s how much damage I
prevented... That’s true, isn’t it.

JERRY
Of course it is.

HENRY
Then, what else is there?

JERRY
Nothing.

HENRY
Thank you.

JERRY
You’re very welcome.

Henry bends to gather up the spare ammunition.

Jerry strikes Henry across the head with the pistol. Henry
falls.

Jerry loads the pistol and shoots him.

JERRY (CONT’D)
(yells)
COMING OUT. I’M COMING OUT.

A pause.
 75.

He shoots Henry again.

END.

HENRY JOHNSON
A play by David Mamet
copyright © 2021 by D. Mamet
Draft: 20 February 2021